Nashville 1 Of 5 Finalists For Hosting NFL Draft
Nashville is one of the five finalists for hosting the 2019 or 2020 NFL Draft, a televised event that brings attention to its host city, and die-hard football fans to town, according to the NFL. The league will make a final decision on the locations in May.
Besides Nashville, in the running are Cleveland/Canton, Kansas City, Denver and Las Vegas. The winning city cannot host the draft in both years, so two of the finalists will be tapped.
This year's draft will be held at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Arlington, Texas, in April. In 2017, the event was in Philadelphia, and in 2015 and 2016, Chicago was the host city.
The draft was held in New York City every year from 1965 until 2015, when the league reinvented the three-day event as road show. Among this year's finalists, four of the five cities are home to NFL franchises, and Las Vegas will get a team in 2020 when the Raiders move there.
"This city has a number of unique qualities to showcase and of course it knows how to put on a show," Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said.
If Nashville is picked for either year, the event would probably be in a Downtown venue, though that has not been specified yet. AT&T Stadium in metro DFW is the first time the draft has been held in a football stadium.
In Philadelphia last year, the event was held outdoors at Eakins Oval near Fairmount Park, also a first for the draft.
